It’s Time To Worry When Colleges Erase Humanities Departments

On its website, the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point still has these statements:

At UW-Stevens Point, you will enter a broad-based general education program. Our faculty will guide you toward global citizenship. They will challenge you to see the world from others’ perspectives.

Students are challenged to think globally and recognize their responsibility toward civic engagement and environmental sustainability. This critical foundation of our university degree allows students to build toward more advanced and specialized work in every major, minor and certificate program. Educational professionals and business leaders from all across the nation recognize the value of this type of broad-based education. It allows for intellectual flexibility and personal and professional growth.

These guiding principles can be found in one form or another on many colleges’ websites, espousing not only a widely-based education but also a path toward “flexibility” in one’s eventual career.

To create programs that meet the evolving needs of students, UW-Stevens Point proposes shifting resources from programs where fewer students are enrolled. Discontinuing the following programs is recommended:

American Studies

Art – Graphic Design will continue as a distinct major

English – English for teacher certification will continue

French

Geography

Geoscience

German

History – Social Science for teacher certification will continue

Music Literature

Philosophy

Political Science

Sociology — Social Work major will continue

Spanish

In effect, UW-SP is cutting the heart out of its educational mission in order to “prepare for the future.” (Note that English, history and sociology will continue only as transactional majors.)

The major reasons for this shift, according to the university, are a $4.5M deficit, a decline in enrollment and lower tuition revenues. Given the roiling state of Wisconsin’s higher education system under its current government, these aren’t negligible reasons. However, they also embody an attitude toward higher education that has been infecting higher education more generally over the last decade or so: If it doesn’t pay, it doesn’t stay.

While the university’s chancellor, Bernie Patterson, says “we remain committed to ensuring every student who graduates from UW-Stevens Point is thoroughly grounded in the liberal arts, as well as prepared for a successful career path.” it’s notable that the proposed replacements for the majors on the block include:

C

hemical Engineering

Computer Information Systems

Conservation Law Enforcement

Finance

Fire Science

Graphic Design

Management

Marketing

as well as

Aqua

cu

lture/Aquaponics

Captive Wildlife

Ecosystem Design and Remediation

Environmental Engineering

Geographic Information Science

Master of Business Administration

Master of Natural Resources

Doctor of Physical Therapy

It seems clear that the university, far from continuing to thoroughly ground its students in the liberal arts as part of their educations, is converting itself into a trade school, relying on market forces to determine its programs and jettisoning anything that doesn’t offer a clear path toward a career.

In a recent article in Inside Higher Education, Mary Bowman, a professor of English and chair of the council’s General Education Committee, said, “‘no formally constituted committee or working group was involved in producing the plan released Monday,” and to what degree any faculty recommendations were incorporated is unclear.”

Economics and enrollment drops have motivated other institutions similarly. The chancellor of Southern Illinois University–Carbondale proposed last year that all departments be eliminated in favor of a more amorphous structure. As reported in Inside Higher Education:

…in the case of proposed School of Humanities within the proposed College of Liberal and Performing Arts, for example, there would still be programs, courses and majors in history, English, philosophy, philosophy and languages, cultures and international studies. But there would no longer be a departmental structure to support them.

As of this writing, it appears that the subjects themselves haven’t been eliminated, but it’s hard not to wonder how each field functions without a “departmental structure.” Are things streamlined as a result? Is there more flexibility and less bureaucracy?

A similar situation existed at Kean University in New Jersey in 2010 and for reasons similar to Wisconsin’s: a huge budget deficit and declining enrollments. NJ.com reported that:

The restructuring — which university administrators say will save nearly $2 million — will remove 38 department chairs from their posts and return them to the classroom. Under the plan, they will be replaced with executive directors and program coordinators who will manage 18 newly-consolidated schools on the Union Township campus.

While not eliminating fields totally, it has, in essence, downgraded them to “Studies” status. There’s now a “School of English Studies,” for example. Instead of a department chair, there’s an executive director.

I don’t want to suggest that colleges and universities shouldn’t respond to the various financial and cultural forces surrounding them. After all, many that now turn out lawyers, doctors and business leaders were founded to educate ministers and men, not women. Nor should we discount the value of vocational education. But to prioritize departments that pay over those that may be elemental (English, history, philosophy, for example) but not “profitable,” is wrongheaded in the long run.